A married Macomb County couple, Noli and Isabel Tcruz, both 68, were sentenced to 6 years in prison and 38 months in prison, respectively, on healthcare fraud kickback conspiracy, tax evasion, and fraud charges. This follows the sentencings earlier this year of two doctors who had pled guilty to receiving kickbacks and bribes from the Tcruzes. The Tcruzes were convicted and sentenced for schemes related to their operation of several Macomb County home healthcare companies that purported to provide legitimate medical care to homebound Medicare beneficiaries, but in fact engaged in fraud. The Tcruzes engaged in an approximately $5 million conspiracy to illegally pay kickbacks and bribes to acquire referrals for home healthcare for Medicare beneficiaries and refused to pay their income tax obligations for both personal and business taxes.
After their last home health company was shut down in February 2020, Noli Tcruz began engaging in Covid-19 program fraud, and used a family member’s identity and company to steal from and defraud the Small Business Administration and Health and Human Services out of more than $250,000 from pandemic assistance funds. Two physicians, Dr. Terry Baul and Dr. David Calderone pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks and bribes for referring Medicare beneficiaries to the Tcruzes. Under their respective plea agreements, the two physicians were required to pay more than three million in restitution and forfeiture judgments and are excluded from Medicare and other federal healthcare programs.
